


Burnout - The Schedule and Courseload of One Stephanie Brown, Student at Gotham University

by Hinn_Raven



Category: Batgirl (Comics)
Genre: Anxiety, College, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Overworking, Stephanie Brown is Batgirl
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-23
Updated: 2020-03-23
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:41:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23286448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hinn_Raven/pseuds/Hinn_Raven
Summary: In which Stephanie Brown has too much on her plate, but can’t–or won’t–slow down, and Bruce and Babs have to convince her to be kinder to herself.
Relationships: Stephanie Brown & Barbara Gordon, Stephanie Brown & Bruce Wayne
Comments: 39
Kudos: 195





	Burnout - The Schedule and Courseload of One Stephanie Brown, Student at Gotham University

**Author's Note:**

> A request from acefuckingnerd on Tumblr, asking for Steph burning out from being a full time college student and vigilante.

**COURSES OF STEPHANIE BROWN, FRESHMAN AT GOTHAM UNIVERSITY, FALL SEMESTER**

**BIO 152: Introductory Biology. Instructor: Lee Garbett**

**COMP 180: Introduction to Algorithms and Complexity. Instructor: Barbara Gordon.**

**ENGL 101: Expository Writing. Instructor: B. Quinn Miller.**

**PHIL 180: Introduction to Ethics. Instructor: William Ross.**

* * *

**MONDAY:**

5:30 – Mom Gets Home, wake up, shower.

6:00 – Breakfast (Mom’s turn)

7:15 – Bus arrives (MUST CATCH, ROSS IS AN ASSHOLE IF YOU’RE LATE)

8:00-9:00 – PHIL 180

9:00-11:00 – Study with Jordanna and Francisco.

11:00-12:00 – Nap.

12:00-2:00 – Lunch, homework.

2:00-3:00 - ENGL 101

3:23 – Bus Home.

3:30-7:00 – Homework, costume repairs

7:00-1am - Patrol

**TUESDAY:**

1:00-5:30 – Blissful sleep

5:30 – Mom Gets Home, wake up, shower.

6:00 – Breakfast (My turn)

7:17 – Bus arrives

8:00-9:30 – BIO 152

9:30-10:30 - Nap

10:30-12:00 – COMP 180

12:00-2:00 – Lunch and office hours with Babs. Go over training strategies and equipment problems.

2:38 – Bus home.

2:30-7:00 – Homework, dinner.

7:00-1am - Patrol

**WEDNESDAY:**

1:00-5:30 – Blissful sleep

5:30 – Mom Gets Home, wake up, shower.

6:00 – Breakfast (Mom’s turn)

7:15 – Bus arrives (MUST CATCH, ROSS IS AN ASSHOLE IF YOU’RE LATE)

8:00-9:00 – PHIL 180

9:00-11:00 – Study with Jordanna and Francisco.

11:00-12:00 – Nap.

12:00-2:00 – Lunch with Wendy, homework.

2:00-3:00 - ENGL 101

3:00-5:00 – Pre-Med Student’s Association Meeting

5:08 – Bus Home

5:30-7:00 – Dinner with Mom (Day off!), Homework

7:00-1am – patrol.

**THURSDAY:**

1:00-5:30 – Blissful sleep

5:30 – Mom Gets Home, wake up, shower.

6:00 – Breakfast (My turn)

7:17 – Bus arrives

8:00-9:30 – BIO 152

9:30-10:30 - Nap

10:30-12:00 – COMP 180

12:00-1:00 – Lunch with Babs and Wendy.

1:00-3:00 – Training with Babs.

3:00-7:00 – Homework, dinner, be sure to ask Babs all of your homework questions NOW.

7:00-1am - Patrol

**FRIDAY:**

1:00-5:30 – Blissful sleep

5:30 – Mom Gets Home, wake up, shower.

6:00 – Breakfast (Mom’s turn)

7:15 – Bus arrives (MUST CATCH, ROSS IS AN ASSHOLE IF YOU’RE LATE)

8:00-9:00 – PHIL 180

9:00-11:00 – Study with Francisco – Jordanna has a shift on Fridays.

11:00-12:00 – Nap.

12:00-2:00 – Lunch with Wendy, homework.

2:00-3:00 - ENGL 101

3:30-6:00 – Weekly Ping Pong Tournament

6:03 – Bus home

6:30 – Dinner

7:30-3am – Patrol

**SATURDAY:**

3am-whenever – sleeeeeep

Whenever-8pm – Homework, chores, equipment maintenance, group projects

8pm-3am – Patrol

**SUNDAY:**

3am-whenever – did I mention sleep?

4pm-7pm – Bonding time with Mom.

7pm-1am – patrol.

* * *

Steph is going to be _so_ relieved when these dumb gen-eds are over with, honestly. _Ethics_. She’s a _superhero_ , what does she need ethics for—okay, wrong question, bad path to go down, ethics are important. _Writing_. She’s a _superhero_ , what does she need _writing_ for?

But all in all, her first semester isn’t so bad. Babs is usually willing to help her with her homework and gives her extensions if patrol is too bad. Francisco and Jordanna are introducing her to more people, and she’s… she’s doing okay.

She’s got her ping-pong team, and she’s been lured into the Pre-Med Association by her advisor, Dr. Nguyen, and sure, she’s not going to many parties, but she figures she can swap out “social life” for “superheroics.”

She does go to a few things, when Francisco or Jordanna invite her specifically, but she’s been a superhero long enough to know that staying up until 1 am and waking up early makes things hard. Babs has suggested trying to take less 8 AMs next semester, and that sounds like solid advice.

If anyone knows how to balance college with being Batgirl, it would be Babs, after all.

It’s hard, being Batgirl now. It’s different than Spoiler; she always felt like she could just take a night off, if she was too tired. But as Batgirl… it’s more like being Robin. She _means something_ , people _look for her_ , and she’s out there every night now, keeping an eye on things, saving the day.

* * *

**SCHEDULE OF STEPHANIE BROWN, FRESHMAN AT GOTHAM UNIVERSITY, SPRING SEMESTER**

**ARBC 240: Intermediate Arabic I. Instructor: Sooraya Sardar**

**BIO 314: Introduction to Human Biochemistry: Instructor: Trevor Scott.**

**CHEM 343: Introduction to Organic Chemistry. Instructor: Lea-May Piles**

**MATH 221: Pre-Calculus. Instructor: Ted Inslee**

* * *

**MONDAY:**

1:00-5:30 – Blissful sleep

5:30 – Mom Gets Home, wake up, shower.

6:00 – Breakfast (Mom’s turn)

8:22 – Bus arrives.

9:00-10:00 – MATH 221

10:00-11:00 – Nap

11:00-2:00 – Meet up with Jordanna, Francisco and the gang for lunch and studying

2:00-3:00 – ARBC 240

3:12 – Bus to Wayne Manor.

3:30-5:00 – Tutoring and homework with Damian.

5:00 – Dinner at Wayne Manor

7:00-1:00am – Patrol with Damian (DROP HIM OFF AT PARK ROW, DICK IS WAITING FOR HIM.)

**TUESDAY:**

1:00am-5:30 – blissful sleep

5:30 – Mom Gets Home, wake up, shower.

6:00 – Breakfast (my turn)

6:00-10:00 – Homework

10:03 – Bus to school

10:30-12:00 – BIO 314

12:00 – Lunch with Wendy

1:00-2:30 – CHEM 343 (Note: Pretty sure the professor is Poison Ivy in disguise. Keep an eye on things.)

3:00-4:00 – Nap

4:00-5:00 – Office hours with Babs

5:00-7:00 – Training and homework in the Batgirl Cave

7:00-1am – Patrol

...

**THURSDAY:**

1:00am-5:30 – blissful sleep

5:30 – Mom Gets Home, wake up, shower.

6:00 – Breakfast (my turn)

6:00-8:00 – Back to Bed

8:00-10:00 - Homework

10:03 – Bus to school

10:30-12:00 – BIO 314

12:00 – Lunch with Wendy

1:00-2:30 – CHEM 343 (Yeah, that professor is totally Poison Ivy.)

3:00-5:00 – Pre-Med Association Meeting.

5:00-7:00 – Training and homework in the Batgirl Cave

7:00-1am – Patrol

* * *

Well, at least there aren’t Eight AMs this semester!

She could basically _feel_ the relief rolling off Dick Grayson when she ended up agreeing to tutoring Damian. Well, Damian thinks he’s tutoring _her_ in Arabic, which, she supposes he is, if refusing to talk to her in anything _but_ Arabic for the entire time she’s with him is tutoring.

What she’s tutoring in really depends on day to day. Sometimes she plays piano to accompany him on the violin. Sometimes she snatches the gigantic history tome out of his hands and throws him a nice piece of fiction, something he’d basically never indulged in before outside of Sherlock Holmes.

They play chess, sometimes, but they also spar, and play videogames, and bounce on the trampoline that’s really only supposed to be used for acrobatics.

She likes spending time with Damian. He’s so… sad, sometimes. Lonely. He misses his mother, he never really got to know Bruce, and he’s gone from a frantic schedule of training and tutors to the empty, crawling world of the Manor, with only Dick and Alfred for company.

He’s going to start school next fall, because let’s be honest, this kid needs socialization, but for now, at least he can look forward to their Monday afternoons together.

Even if he will viciously deny that he looks forward to them.

* * *

**SCHEDULE OF STEPHANIE BROWN, SOPHOMORE AT GOTHAM UNIVERSITY, FALL SEMESTER**

**BIO 337: Human Anatomy. Instructor: Sandra Hope.**

**BIO 338: Human Anatomy Lab. Instructor: Sandra Hope. TA: Phillip Noto.**

**PHYS 207: General Physics. Instructor: Janet Mendoza.**

**STATS 371: Introductory Applied Statistics for the Life Sciences. Instructor: Tim Inmen.**

* * *

**WEDNESDAY:**

1:00am-5:30 – blissful sleep

5:30 – Mom Gets Home, wake up, shower.

6:00 – Breakfast (Mom’s turn)

7:15 – Bus arrives

8:00-9:00 – STATS 371

9:00-10:00 – Homework

10:00-1:30 – Meet up with Jordanna, Francisco and the gang for lunch and studying

1:30-3:00 – Babs’s office hours. Submit Batman, Inc. Reports at this time.

3:12 – Bus To Wayne Manor

3:30-5:00 – Training With Cass!!!!!!

5:00 – Dinner at Wayne Manor

7:00-1:00am – Patrol with Cass!!!!

* * *

8 AMs again! The world hates her!

But honestly, Steph doesn’t care, because she’s got patrol with Damian on Mondays, patrol with Cass on Wednesday, and even having lab on Fridays and having been abruptly recruited to be the _secretary_ of the Pre-Med Association, which means _another_ meeting a week doesn’t matter.

Cass is _home_ , and so is Bruce, but honestly Bruce is on thin fucking ice after that whole bullshit. Listen, Steph knows better than most people that it’s hard to just come back from the dead, but _there is no excuse for stalking, Bruce_.

She takes her revenge in the form of exposing Damian to Agatha Christie novels, and convincing him that they’re superior forms of detective stories to Sherlock Holmes.

Things are pretty busy, but that makes sense, it’s her sophomore year, she’s not just taking all intro courses now. She’s got regular phone calls with Kara and the rest of the team; they teamed up a few more times over the summer, and they want to make it a regular thing, maybe on weekends?

Steph says _yes_ , because holy shit, she’s never been on a _team_ before, not even when she was Robin, and she’s so excited about all of this that she could scream.

* * *

**FRIDAY:**

1:00am-5:30 – blissful sleep

5:30 – Mom Gets Home, wake up, shower.

6:00 – Breakfast (Mom’s turn)

7:15 – Bus arrives

8:00-9:00 – STATS 371

9:00-10:00 – STATS Study Group

10:00-11:00 – Batman Inc. Weekly Skype Call

11:30 – 1:30 – BIO 388 (Lab)

1:30-3:30 – Badgering the TA for the Lab for homework help/lunch/homework

3:30-6:00 – Weekly Ping Pong Tournament

6:03 – Bus home

6:30 – Dinner

7:30-3am – Patrol

* * *

Ugh, the real problem is that money’s getting tight. Rent’s are raising, so Mom can’t help as much as she’d like. She’s not saying anything, but Steph _knows_ , that she should probably look at getting a job this summer. And maybe next school year.

It’s okay though. She can do this.

* * *

**SCHEDULE OF STEPHANIE BROWN, SOPHOMORE AT GOTHAM UNIVERSITY, SPRING SEMESTER**

**ARBC 241: Intermediate Arabic II. Instructor: Sooraya Sardar**

**BIO 384: Cellular Biology. Instructor: Pere Perez.**

**BIO 385: Cellular Biology Lab. Instructor: Pere Perez. TA: Jonathan Glapion.**

**SOC 135: Sociology of Race & Ethnicity in the United States. Instructor: Jefferson Pierce.**

**14 Hours Employment at Taco Whiz. Saturday/Sunday shifts.**

* * *

“Steph?” Babs says, looking up over her computer, where Steph is dozing off over her homework.

“Mmm?”

“Are you… are you sleeping enough?”

“Yeah, just…” Steph yawned. “Had more homework than I expected.”

Babs frowns, staring at her suspiciously.

“Mm fine,” Steph says, rubbing her eyes. “Just need to get coffee.”

* * *

**SCHEDULE OF STEPHANIE BROWN, JUNIOR AT GOTHAM UNIVERSITY, FALL SEMESTER**

**ARBC 340: Advanced Arabic I. Instructor: Sooraya Sardar.**

**BIO 575: Biology of a Virus. Instructor: Tim Levins.**

**ENVO 502: Air Pollution and Human Health. Instructor: Carl Oldermann Jr.**

**SOC 210: Sociology of Medicine & Health Care. Instructor: Leslie Thompkins.**

**18 Hours Employment: TA Position: Elementary Arabic I. Instructor: Sooraya Sardar. 3 hours in the classroom, 15 hours Office Hours.**

* * *

**MONDAY** : Tutoring Damian, Arabic, Sociology, Dinner at the Manor, Patrol with Damian

 **TUESDAY** : Biology, Environment, Arabic TA-ing. Batman Inc. meeting, Patrol

 **WEDNESDAY** : Arabic, Sociology, Office Hours, Pre-Med meeting, Patrol with Cass

 **THURSDAY** : Biology, Environment, Arabic TA-ing, Office Hours, Patrol with Nell

 **FRIDAY** : Arabic, Sociology, Office Hours, Lunch with Wendy, Meeting with Superheroes United, Patrol with Bruce.

 **SATURDAY:** Homework, training with Nell, Equipment Upgrades, Birds of Prey Meeting, patrol.

 **SUNDAY** : Take the zeta-tube to Metropolis for Superheroes United, homework, patrol. 

* * *

“Stephanie,” Bruce says, as Steph stumbles out of her car into the Batcave, her hands covered in ink from grading papers. “You’re late.”

“I know, I’m sorry,” Steph says, all of the words coming out in an awful rush. “It’s been a rough week, we had an emergency in Metropolis and I know I had to cancel on Damian, but I’ve figured it out, if I bring Nell here on Saturday, I can train her while still helping Damian with his violin lessons, and if I move my office hours to Tuesdays I can skype into the Batman Inc. meeting from the office so I should be able to not be late next time—”

“Stephanie,” Bruce rumbles. “Breathe.”

She pulls up short. “I know I screwed up, okay? But I can _totally_ fix this; it won’t happen again.”

“It won’t be,” Bruce says flatly. “Because you’re not going to be patrolling with me on Fridays anymore.”

Steph felt like she was wilting. “But—”

“You’re overworking yourself,” he says.

“I’m not! I can handle this!” She insists.

“Stephanie. How many hours of sleep did you get last night?”

She opens her mouth. “Like… five and a half. Like normal?”

“Wrong,” Bruce says. “You started _last_ night’s patrol with Nell late, so you stayed out until two AM instead, because you didn’t want to rob her of the experience. So you got one less hour of sleep than normal.” He pauses, ominously. “As you know, we all supplement our late nights with naps. So. Did you nap today?”

She fidgets. “Well, no, not on Fridays, I’ve got my meetings and office hours and I skipped lunch with Wendy today because I had a paper due so I couldn’t get a power nap in then—”

“You’re exhausted,” Bruce says flatly. “You’re taking on too many courses to keep up with your tutoring, your mentorships, your involvement in organizations, and your patrol as Batgirl.”

“I’m taking a normal number of credits!” Steph insists.

“You’re vice-president of the Pre-Medical Assocation, you’re Nell Little’s Batman Inc. Mentor, you’re tutoring Damian, you’re a Teacher’s Assistant, you’re co-leading Superheroes United with Supergirl, you’re an active member of Batman Inc, and you’re assisting with the Birds of Prey one day a week.” Bruce says flatly, rattling them all off. “You’re no longer meeting your friends for lunch except Wendy Harris once a week, and by your own admission you tend to nap through those lunches. You stopped attending your Ping Pong tournaments, and you’ve even stopped calling Kara outside of your work with Superheroes United.”

Steph stiffens, defensively. “I’m—”

“Last week, when you were doing homework in the Batcave, you spent five minutes crying about your virology homework because your math didn’t work.”

“So?”

“Stephanie.” Bruce takes a deep breath. “That’s. Not. A. Normal. Reaction.”

Steph blinks, not comprehending.

“You cannot continue operating at this pace. You need to drop _something_ , Stephanie.”

“What? But I _can’t_! I need these activities to get into Medical School—”

Bruce sighs. “You’re planning on going to the Med School here in Gotham, right?”

Steph frowns. “Yes?”

“Leslie has already agreed to write you a letter of recommendation,” he points out patiently. “As one of their star alumnae, her word has a lot of weight. You’re already fluent in three languages, nearly four. You have a history of leadership, community organization, and an impressive internship under your belt. You’re going to get in, Stephanie.”

“But—graduation—”

“Stephanie. I’ve done the math. You can not take a full course load for two of the next _three_ semesters, and still graduate in fine shape.”

“But—”

“He’s right,” Babs says, wheeling forward. “And you know how much I hate to admit it.”

Steph looks at Babs with an expression of pure betrayal. “What?”

Babs sighs. “Stephanie. You’re burning out. We’ve all noticed it. You’re not getting enough sleep. Your reflexes are slowing down. You’re stressed, you’re losing muscle mass, and half of your friends have been texting me to figure out if you’re okay, because you’re not answering any of _them_ , not even Kara, unless it has something to do with Superheroes United.”

Steph opens her mouth to protest, but she can’t—think of anything.

When was the last time she saw Cass not for training or patrol? When was the last time she’d just let herself sleep in on a Saturday?

“I—but what do I drop?”

Babs sighs. “I’m not kicking you off the Birds. But I _am_ going to suggest you skip the meetings. Cass can take Nell’s mentorship off your hands until summer, when you can re-arrange your course load more.”

“And Damian doesn’t require formal tutoring anymore,” Bruce says. “He will, of course, be glad to still see you, but I think maybe, simply spending time with him might be more productive for you, rather than trying to stick to your structured lesson plans.”

Babs reaches forward and grips Steph’s hand. “Talk to your advisor, and Dr. Sardar,” she suggests. “They can help you figure things out so that you’re less overworked.”

“And you’re taking one night a week off,” Bruce says.

“I— _what_?” Steph yells, jerking backwards, pulling her hand out of Babs’s grip. “I _can’t_ —”

“You can,” Bruce says, firmly. “None of the others are balancing a schedule _nearly_ as complicated as yours, you need to give yourself time to recuperate.”

“I—Babs did it!”

“Stephanie,” Babs says, fondly exasperated. “I wasn’t involved in _three_ superhero organizations that took up my time.”

“… oh,” Steph says.

“You’re working in a completely different world than I was,” Babs says, her expression wry. “Dick ended up dropping out of college. Jason is taking courses at the community college, at his own pace. Tim still hasn’t decided if he’s even going to _go_ to college. And Cass has absolutely no interest in college.” She takes Steph’s hand again, and squeezes. “What you’re going through is different from everyone else. And that’s okay. Because we’re going to be here for you, helping you figure out what you need.”

Steph takes a deep breath, then lets her shoulders slump.

“Okay,” she finally says.

Babs and Bruce both relax at that. “Oh thank God,” Babs mutters.

“So I’ll just—go home, then,” Steph says.

Bruce looks at her. “Alfred’s already prepared a room for you. Next to Damian’s. Go sleep, Stephanie. I’ll tell Nell to arrive here for her training tomorrow.”

“I—but it’s only eight,” Steph protests. “That’s like. The middle of the day for Bats!”

“One who isn’t operating on four hours of sleep for the past four months, maybe,” Babs says, her expression wry. “Go to _bed_ , Batgirl. That’s an order.”

Muttering to herself about bossy mentors who think they know everything, Steph goes up the stairs to the Manor, follows Alfred’s eyebrow and bland comments about how nice it is to see that she’s started to look after herself in the direction of the room, and barely remembers to remove her bra and her shoes before she goes to sleep.

She sleeps for twelve hours straight.

She misses a night of patrol, is late for Nell’s training, misses the Birds of Prey meeting, and Cass kidnaps her to go get coffee rather than let her fix up her costume.

And… the world doesn’t end.

How about that?

* * *

**SCHEDULE OF STEPHANIE BROWN, JUNIOR AT GOTHAM UNIVERSITY, SPRING SEMESTER**

**CHEM 344: Intermediate Organic Chemistry. Instructor: A Payee Mills.**

**CHEM 345: Organic Chemistry Lab. Instructor: A Payee Mills. TA: Harleen Quinzel.**

**ENGL 333: Superheroes in Literature. Instructor: Dana Charles.**

**18 hours a week: TA-ing Elementary Arabic I**

* * *

**Monday** : Superheroes in Literature, Lunch with Jordanna and Francisco, homework with Damian, patrol with Damian, 2 naps.

 **Tuesday** : Organic Chemistry (Professor is Poison Ivy, deal with this eventually), lunch with Babs, Cass, and Wendy, 2 naps, Pre-Med Association Meeting, patrol with the Birds of Prey.

 **Wednesday** : Superheroes in Literature, volunteering with Leslie, 2 naps, dinner with Cass, patrol with Cass.

 **Thursday** : Organic Chemistry, Organic Chemistry Lab (… no. Look into changing sections), Skype Kara, 2 naps, patrol with Nell.

 **Friday** : Superheroes in Literature, Training with Nell, Batman Inc. Meeting, no patrol.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you all enjoyed! Please leave a comment here or over on Tumblr! 
> 
> Remember, in these times of social distancing, I take prompts over on Tumblr, where you can find me @[secretlystephaniebrown](http://secretlystephaniebrown.tumblr.com/).


End file.
